THE ULTIMATE STANDER (COMPLETED)

Chapter Seven

      "I shall move onto the next phase. But first, I have a question. Ladies, how fast can you run?"

      Confused by the question asked, we gave one another a quizzical look. We honestly had no idea why this Sam guy asked us that.

      "Well, I used to be the fastest runner in my class," a girl mentioned.

      "I'm the fastest when it comes to car racing," another female uttered.

      "I'm the quickest when it comes to-"

      "Ladies, ladies." I could almost hear him chuckle. "I am not talking about sports here. How fast are you when it comes to survival? When you are willing to escape danger?" He was silent. And so were we. "Anyway, it does not matter now. I can just explain why I asked. Ladies! What you are about to perform now has nothing to do with combat. Before fighting can commence, I will need to put you all to the test."

      "Test?" asked, Sofia Huxley, the girl with the pink ponytail.

      "Yes. I need to test your speed, see how far you can survive on the run."

      "On the run from what exactly?" I decided to ask this time.

      This guy was just making us all confused. First, we discovered we had to fight ourselves to death. Second, he had to test us before we could fight?

      "You will all find out yourselves sooner, Phoebe Knowles." There it was again. This special and weird way he pronounced my name. "Mr. Houston." He called for the attention of the man who had been standing and watching us all the whole time. "You know what to do."

      "Ladies! Please come along with me," Cameron said.

••••♦••••

      We followed him and went behind the huge building. The backyard was as wide as the front with the similar tall gate and lighthouses. The growling and snarling noises coming from the cages about ten miles away from us drew our attention. In my head I did the math, putting the pieces together.

      Test, speed, run, survival. Holy shit! I hoped it wasn't what I was thinking.

      Cameron led us away from the building and left us to stand with our backs facing the tall gate. It was hard and almost impossible for us to see the cages now. I raised my head up, staring at the gigantic lighthouse by my right.

      "Why in the hell did he bring us here?" McKayla Jones asked, a girl with so many tattoos.

      Few of the girls shrugged, while Lady Creepoid remained silent. I had been watching and staring at her. And when her eyes met mine, she did something that suddenly gave me the shiver. A smirk. I looked away, meeting my gaze with Mia. She was standing next to Rochelle Fred, the girl with the mohawk haircut, smiling at me. She had been watching me and I didn't realize that up until now. I smiled back, and she shied away.

      "Fighters." Sam's voice returned. We were far away from the building. How the hell were we still able to hear him? I looked around for any intercoms. None. I looked back at the lighthouse. There must be one attached there. "On the sound of the first gunshot, you are expected to turn around and run into the woods," he instructed.

      "What? Why?"

      I was too confused and preoccupied with my own thoughts to know who had asked.

      "On the sound of the second gunshot," he went on, "you are expected to return here before the gate closes. Fail to do so, you are on your own. And do not bother escaping. There's no way out of here for this place is built on an island."

      I was beginning to fear that this test was exactly what I was thinking. My fear was justified as I saw something just up ahead, moving at a full speed, growling and barking. I thought I was the only one who saw it until . . .

      "Um . . . Guys," Saanvi Roy, a black Indian girl called to our notice. "Look!"

      "What the fuck!" someone exclaimed.

      Everyone began to panic as they saw multiple beasts heading our way.

      "Those are motherfucking wolves!" Rochelle shouted, when she was clear enough to see what they were.

      "Are you fucking trying to kill us Sam?!" Merida González yelled out.

      We would have made a run for it, but there was no sound of the gunshot yet. And the gate wasn't even open. The wolves were fast approaching. Everyone stood but panicking. Somehow I turned to look at Lady Creepoid, she didn't seem to panic at all. Of course. She was as weird as this whole situation.

      "If those fucking wolves comes anywhere near here, I'm gonna have to run. Whether they fucking open the fucking gate or not!" Nadia Carlson barked, bending in a double over pose, readying herself to take off any minute from now.

      There was the sound of gunshot, and we turned around just when the gate was opening.
We pushed ourselves through it, dashing off into the woods. I, and some girl took the path to the west as few others took the path to the north. I saw three wolves on their trail as I continued to run. We hadn't gone that far into the woods when I heard a sudden cry behind me. I stopped and whipped my head around to see the girl who had been running behind me the whole time sitting on the ground, her hands clasped around something.

      "Hey, you gotta get up," I said, running back to her. I saw her face full of sweat and tears and in pain. I looked down at her feet and I was shocked to see her foot caught up in a foothold trap. Blood streaming down her ankle. Looked very bad.

      "Please. Please help me," she sobbed, letting out another scream as she tried to pull open the jaws of the trap, only to clam back onto her ankle. It was excruciating to watch.

      "Okay stop, stop!" I exclaimed. I could not have her drawing attention to us. I bent down next to her wounded foot. "Now listen," I said to her, "once I compress the levers, I want you to remove your foot from the pan as quickly as possible." She nodded, whimpering. I pressed down the levers on both sides of the trap jaws with my hands, and immediately the jaws opened up, the girl instantly removed her foot. "What's your name?" I asked.

      "Stella Smith," she answered.

      "Do you think you can walk, Stella?"

      "I don't think so," she responded, inspecting her bleeding foot.

      "You gonna have to try, otherwise we're gonna be toast."

      The sound of growling made me look up above and beyond Stella's head. There was a wolf snapping its teeth at us.

      "Don't!" I said to Stella, when she slowly turned her head to look behind her. "Slowly get behind me."

      I locked eyes with the growling wolf, while Stella crawled behind me for safety. I glanced to my right. I saw a stick I could use as a weapon. I doubled over, slowly moving away from Stella toward the stick. I saw the fear in her eyes and I gave her a reassuring nod. All I need to do was to grab the stick just before the beast would attack.

      Thankfully, the sound of the gunshot diverted its attention, giving me a short period of time to roll over and grab the wood. Whipping my body around, I suddenly found myself knocked over to the ground. I held my hand up, using the stick to prevent the snapping teeth of the beast from tearing at my skin. I held the stick tightly against its neck, forcing away its teeth from getting close to my face. I couldn't hold the beast much longer, so I grabbed the nearest rock and bashed the side of its head before pushing it off of me.

      I quickly sprang up, broke the stick into two pieces with my kneecap as I had planned in my mind. I was lucky enough to get a sharp end on one side of the half stick. Then I prepared myself for the next advance, gripping my weapon tight. Just as I had hoped, the beast charged toward me.

      Bouncing on the balls of my feet, I blew out some air before sliding forward across the ground on my knees. Ignoring the burning sensation I felt as my knees scratched along the gravels, I jabbed the weapon at the beast's side. It whimpered and struggled for a moment before the creature fell to the ground. I gave myself a once-over. I was coated in a wolf's blood.